AMD Radeon Pro W5500 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 Comparison

The Verdict

The benchmark data presents a decisive outcome: the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 wins all three recorded head-to-head tests against the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950. The database shows the W5500 leading by 657.1% in Geekbench Metal, 191.2% in Geekbench OpenCL, and 151.1% in Geekbench Vulkan. These are not narrow margins; they represent a generational and architectural gap that dominates every measured workload.

For users choosing between these two end-of-life products, the data points to the W5500 for any task involving Metal, OpenCL, or Vulkan acceleration. The GTX 950, while historically relevant, falls far behind in every recorded metric. The W5500 also carries a higher average benchmark score of 15679 compared to 13189 for the GTX 950. The percentile placement reinforces this: the W5500 sits at the 58th percentile among all GPUs, while the GTX 950 rests at the 53rd percentile.

The recommendation is straightforward. If the choice is between these two cards and the workload uses any of the three tested APIs, the AMD Radeon Pro W5500 is the only reasonable pick based on recorded performance. The GTX 950 retains no measurable advantage in the head-to-head data.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from different architectural eras and manufacturing processes. The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 uses the Navi 14 chip built on RDNA 1.0 architecture, fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 uses the GM206 chip with Maxwell 2.0 architecture, also from TSMC but on a much older 28 nm node.

The transistor counts reflect the process gap. The W5500 packs 6,400 million transistors into a 158 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 40.5 million per square millimeter. The GTX 950 contains 2,940 million transistors on a larger 228 mm² die, giving a density of only 12.9 million per square millimeter. The W5500 achieves more than three times the transistor density of the GTX 950.

Memory subsystems differ substantially. The W5500 comes with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 224.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GTX 950 offers 2 GB of GDDR5 memory, also on a 128-bit bus, but bandwidth drops to 105.8 GB/s. The W5500 has double the memory capacity and more than double the bandwidth.

Compute resources follow the same pattern. The W5500 has 1408 shading units, 88 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The GTX 950 has 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The ROP count is identical, but the W5500 nearly doubles the shader and texture hardware. Clock speeds also favor the W5500: 1744 MHz base and 1855 MHz boost versus 1024 MHz base and 1188 MHz boost for the GTX 950. Memory clocks are 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) for the W5500 and 1653 MHz (6.6 Gbps effective) for the GTX 950.

The W5500 also uses PCIe 4.0 x8, while the GTX 950 uses PCIe 3.0 x16. Both support DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The W5500 supports FP16 at 10.45 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio; the GTX 950 has no recorded FP16 capability. FP32 performance is 5.224 TFLOPS for the W5500 versus 1.825 TFLOPS for the GTX 950. Pixel rate is 59.36 GPixel/s versus 38.02 GPixel/s, and texture rate is 163.2 GTexel/s versus 57.02 GTexel/s.

Where Each One Wins

The head-to-head benchmark results show no category where the GTX 950 wins. The W5500 leads in all three recorded tests: Geekbench Metal, Geekbench OpenCL, and Geekbench Vulkan.

Looking at the broader benchmark set, the W5500 has additional scores that the GTX 950 lacks entirely. The W5500 records PassMark DirectX 10 at 47, DirectX 11 at 56, DirectX 12 at 39, DirectX 9 at 126, G2D at 806, G3D at 8978, and GPU Compute at 4804. None of these tests appear in the GTX 950 record, so no direct comparison exists for those workloads.

The use-case split is therefore one-sided. For Metal-based applications, the W5500 dominates with a 657.1% lead. For OpenCL compute, the W5500 leads by 191.2%. For Vulkan rendering, the lead is 151.1%. The GTX 950's best relative showing is in Vulkan, where it still loses by more than 150%.

The GTX 950 does have a lower TDP at 90 W versus 125 W for the W5500, and a lower suggested PSU of 250 W versus 300 W. It is also shorter at 202 mm versus 241 mm. These physical differences matter for system integration, but they do not translate into any performance win in the recorded data.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon Pro W5500 has an average benchmark score of 15679, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950 has an average score of 13189.

Q: How much faster is the W5500 in Geekbench Metal?

A: The W5500 scores 54302 in Geekbench Metal versus 7172 for the GTX 950, a lead of 657.1%.

Q: Does the GTX 950 win any head-to-head benchmark?

A: No. The GTX 950 loses all three recorded head-to-head tests: Geekbench Metal, Geekbench OpenCL, and Geekbench Vulkan.

Q: What are the memory specifications of each card?

A: The W5500 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth. The GTX 950 has 2 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 128-bit bus with 105.8 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Which card has more shading units?

A: The W5500 has 1408 shading units, while the GTX 950 has 768 shading units.

Q: What is the process node difference?

A: The W5500 is built on a 7 nm process, while the GTX 950 uses a 28 nm process. Both are fabricated by TSMC.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most dramatic result in the database is Geekbench Metal. The W5500 scores 54302 against 7172 for the GTX 950, a delta of 657.1%. This is the largest margin in any recorded test. The score gap is 47130 points. Metal performance is heavily dependent on architectural efficiency and memory bandwidth, and the W5500's RDNA 1.0 design with GDDR6 memory appears to deliver overwhelmingly in this API.

Geekbench OpenCL shows a similar but less extreme pattern. The W5500 scores 45615, while the GTX 950 scores 15662. The delta is 191.2%. OpenCL is a compute-oriented workload, and the W5500's FP32 throughput of 5.224 TFLOPS versus 1.825 TFLOPS for the GTX 950 aligns with this result. The compute gap is also visible in the PassMark GPU Compute score of 4804 for the W5500, though no comparable GTX 950 number exists in the database.

Geekbench Vulkan narrows the gap somewhat. The W5500 scores 42021, and the GTX 950 scores 16734. The delta is 151.1%. This is the closest result between the two cards, but it is still a substantial loss for the GTX 950. Vulkan's lower overhead may help the older Maxwell architecture more than the other APIs, but the W5500 still more than doubles the GTX 950's score.

The W5500 also has a much higher average benchmark score overall: 15679 versus 13189 for the GTX 950. The nearest rivals for the W5500 include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti at 15548 (0.8% behind the W5500) and the AMD Radeon RX 7700 at 15852 (1.1% ahead). The GTX 950's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 at 13300 (0.8% ahead of the GTX 950) and the AMD Radeon Pro 555X at 13321 (1% ahead). This places the W5500 in a much higher performance tier than the GTX 950.

The GTX 950's best recorded score is its Geekbench Vulkan result of 16734, which is still lower than the W5500's lowest head-to-head score of 42021 in the same test. No measured workload in the database puts the GTX 950 within striking distance of the W5500.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every specification category. The W5500 uses the Navi 14 chip with RDNA 1.0 architecture on a 7 nm process. The GTX 950 uses the GM206 chip with Maxwell 2.0 architecture on a 28 nm process. Transistor counts are 6,400 million versus 2,940 million. Die size is 158 mm² versus 228 mm², and transistor density is 40.5M per mm² versus 12.9M per mm².

Clock speeds: the W5500 runs at 1744 MHz base and 1855 MHz boost. The GTX 950 runs at 1024 MHz base and 1188 MHz boost. Memory clocks are 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) for the W5500 and 1653 MHz (6.6 Gbps effective) for the GTX 950.

Memory: 8 GB GDDR6 versus 2 GB GDDR5. Both use a 128-bit bus, but bandwidth is 224.0 GB/s versus 105.8 GB/s.

Compute units: 1408 shading units, 88 TMUs, and 32 ROPs for the W5500. The GTX 950 has 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. Pixel rate is 59.36 GPixel/s versus 38.02 GPixel/s. Texture rate is 163.2 GTexel/s versus 57.02 GTexel/s. FP32 is 5.224 TFLOPS versus 1.825 TFLOPS. FP16 is 10.45 TFLOPS (2:1) for the W5500; the GTX 950 has no recorded FP16.

Power and physical dimensions: the W5500 has a TDP of 125 W, while the GTX 950 has a TDP of 90 W. The W5500 is single-slot; the GTX 950 is dual-slot. Both use a single 6-pin power connector. Suggested PSU is 300 W for the W5500 and 250 W for the GTX 950. The W5500 is 241 mm long; the GTX 950 is 202 mm long.

Bus interface: PCIe 4.0 x8 for the W5500 versus PCIe 3.0 x16 for the GTX 950. Display outputs: the W5500 has 4x DisplayPort 1.4a. The GTX 950 has 1x DVI, 1x HDMI 2.0, and 3x DisplayPort 1.2.

Release timing: the W5500 launched in 2020, while the GTX 950 launched in 2015. The W5500's predecessor is the Radeon Pro Vega; the GTX 950's predecessor is the GeForce 700 series, and its successor is the GeForce 10 series. Both are end-of-life products. The launch MSRP for the W5500 is 399 USD, and the launch MSRP for the GTX 950 is 159 USD.